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It took 16 years for authorities to catch Boston mob boss James Whitey Bulger. He was captured this past June in Los Angeles and faces a range of charges related to a string of murders. For families of alleged victims, it's been a long wait. They've spent the past decade trying to hold the FBI responsible for letting those murders happen.

Several families sued the FBI and won millions of dollars. But today, they'll be back in court, as government lawyers try to overturn those judgments. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: Steve Davis still gets worked up thinking about the day mobster Steven "The Rifleman" Flemmi admitted in court he lured Davis' sister Debra into a house and watched Whitey Bulger strangle her to death. Davis literally lunged at Flemmi and was dragged from court that day, totally enraged at the mobsters and at the FBI, who were using the mobsters as informants, and seemed willing to let them get away with murder.

STEVE DAVIS: It's sick. The government that was supposed to uphold and protect us, they weren't protecting us. They were allowing this to happen.

SMITH: Davis is one of several victims' relatives who convinced a federal judge the FBI should pay nearly $3 million for being partly responsible for the murders Bulger and Flemmi allegedly committed.

DAVIS: All the lives that were taken in all the years, 16 or 17 lives could've been saved if they took them off the street.

SMITH: The families' attorneys declined to comment, but William Christie, who represents other relatives in similar suits, says there's no question the FBI is liable for turning a blind eye and not controlling the violent mobsters they'd teamed up with.

WILLIAM CHRISTIE: It's sort of the type of theory, you let wild dog loose in a park and the dog ends up biting somebody, the owner of the dog is responsible.

SMITH: But government lawyers say it's a stretch to blame the FBI. They also declined to comment, but in court papers, they argue the FBI couldn't have known who was going to be killed. And there's no proof that the murders wouldn't have happened, anyway.

The government also argues the damages were way too high and the families made their claims too late. Earlier this year, government lawyers used that same argument to appeal two similar cases and did get those multi-million dollar awards thrown out.

TOMMY DONAHUE: We consider it (beep). You know what I mean?

SMITH: Tommy Donahue had spent years believing Bulger would never be found or tried for the murder of his father, Michael Donahue. So when he got a civil judgment against the FBI, he was elated that at least someone would be held responsible. Donahue says it was devastating to see the government then continue to argue on appeal to let the FBI off the hook.

DONAHUE: It's sickening to me, you know. How can they give somebody the green light to go around and murder people, sell drugs in the city and not feel like they're responsible? That's beyond denial. That's almost, you know, pathological.

HARVEY SILVERGLATE: It is appalling that the government refuses to admit error. But I have to tell you, I've been doing this kind of work for over 40 years. It isn't surprising.

SMITH: That's Harvard law Professor Harvey Silverglate. Government especially has an obligation to make amends for its mistakes, he says, but ironically, it won't do itself what it demands from common criminals.

SILVERGLATE: The government insists that acceptance of responsibility is a major factor in sentence reduction, and yet it's the one thing the government is worst at.

SMITH: Victims' families say they're not holding their breath for any heartfelt apologies, but having the court say what the government will not would at least be something.

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